Employment Class Action Lawsuit: At The Car Wash

Los Angeles, CAA car wash chain with an alleged history of employment law violations faces their day in court. Earlier today, attorneys from the law firm Bush Gottlieb and Bet Tzedek Legal Services announced their intent to file a class action lawsuit against car wash owners and brothers Benny and Nisan Pirian for alleged employment law violations.

The alleged violations by the car wash owners were related to California wage and hour laws. Benny and Nisan Pirian are accused of failing to pay the minimum wage, failure to provide proper overtime pay, and failure to allow workers to take adequate meal and rest breaks, among other alleged violations.

The class action lawsuit alleges that workers at the four car washes regularly worked at least 10 hour days for wages equal to roughly half of the minimum wage. In addition, some workers allegedly were not paid regular wages at all, reduced to receiving only tips as compensation. Over the past several years, the car wash owners were given multiple notifications of the alleged violations at their car washes. They were supposedly notified and urged to comply with the California labor code. Despite several warnings as well as the alleged history of citations by state agencies, Benny and Nisan Pirian have resisted modifying their business practices to comply with labor law.

More than two hundred current and former employees of the Pirian brothers' car washes are estimated to be covered by the impending class action lawsuit to be filed by Bush Gottlieb and Bet Tzedek. The California car washes implicated in this case are the Vermont Hand Wash, the Celebrity Car Wash, the Hollywood Car Wash, and the Five Star Car Wash. While employee abuses in the car wash industry are believed to be pretty commonplace, the specific car washes named in the suit allegedly have a history of being cited by state agencies in the past for breaking California's labor law and violating occupational health and safety standards as well as environmental regulations.

On Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. attorneys from the law firm Bush Gottlieb and Bet Tzedek Legal Services (a legal aid organization who is known for having represented car wash workers in similar cases over the past several years) will hold a press conference to take place at the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse at 110 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The press conference will be held outside the Grand Avenue entrance to the courthouse, and attorneys from Bush Gottlieb and Bet Tzedek Legal Services will be joined by several car wash workers who are named in the lawsuit. The car wash workers who will be present are expected to give testimony of their experiences.

Labor abuses in the car wash industry have gotten much attention from state lawmakers in recent years. California code AB 1688, known as the Carwash Worker Law, was implemented by the state Legislature in 2004 in response to the widespread abuses.